Background: Undernutrition leads to impaired psychosocial and cognitive development. This study explored the developmental status of children with complicated severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and correlated it with various risk factors for SAM.
Methods and findings: We recruited 100 children with SAM and no other associated significant health issues during the recovery phase of treatment using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development III prior to discharge from the nutritional rehabilitation unit in R D Gardi Medical College, Ujjain, Central India. We also assessed composite developmental scores, developmental age equivalents, and average differences in developmental age. Risk factors for developmental delay were identified in children with complicated SAM. The results revealed that 75%, 75%, and 63% of children with SAM exhibited delay in motor (mean score: 78.22), language (mean score: 83.97), and cognitive (mean score: 78.06) domains, respectively. A total of 63% children exhibited delay by an average of 4-7 months in the total developmental age. The proportion of children with delay in motor, language, and cognitive domains was determined. An increased risk of global developmental delay was observedin children with a low birth weight (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 18.06, 95%CI: 2.08-156.56; P = 0.009), having working mothers (aOR: 17.54, 95%CI: 3.02-102.59; P = 0.001), weight-for-age less than three standard deviations (aOR: 6.09, 95%CI: 1.08-34.10; P = 0.04), and presence of severe anemia (aOR: 16.34, 95%CI: 2.94-90.73; P = 0.001).
Conclusions: The results indicated that children with SAM exhibit developmental delay across all domains. Identifying multiple modifiable risk factors for developmental delay in children with SAM will be helpful in devising early interventional strategies in low-middle income countries; however, the exact timing of such interventions should be investigated.